Republican Tax Bill is a "Pig in a Poke". Santa is Our Last Hope!

I hate preparing tax returns.  I am a nervous wreck waiting for the calculations to show “Amount Owed”, or hopefully “Amount Refunded.”  When I spot an envelope in my mailbox from the Internal Revenue Service, I begin to shake and sweat cause they don’t send greeting cards.  So, nobody wants reform more than me, but I don’t fool easily.

 THIS TAX BILL that the Republican legislators and the President are selling us is the biggest “pig in a poke” in the history of this country.  For you youngsters, a pig in a poke describes something that is sold or bought without the buyer knowing its true nature or value, especially when buying without inspecting the item beforehand. 

FEW HAVE read this tax bill. Tax experts have not inspected this entire tax bill. This tax bill is being changed every few minutes. Other than what the President has told us (and he is prone to tell fibs), we know little about what value we will receive from this tax bill.  So, let’s use our common sense and what we have learned through our life’s experience with how taxes really work.  

LAST WEEK Trump made his pitch to the middle-class while surrounded by Stepford families.  After all, when two-thirds of a tax cut is going to the top 1% of Americans, and not scrap damn doodle for the bottom 3^rd, you have to sell the middle class a pig in a poke to help pass it.  Trump said, “The typical family of four earning $75,000 will see an income tax cut of more than $2,000, slashing their tax bill in half. It's going to be a lot of money. You're going to have an extra $2,000!” Let’s see.  Based on a 40- hour work week, a person will work 2,080 hours a year.  That means you will get less than a dollar per hour.   It begs the question, why not raise the minimum wage and trash that tax bill?  Oh, I forgot.  The big Republican donors would never allow that.

EACH FAMILY spoke of their gratitude for their hand-out from Trump and told how they were going to spend the lots and lots of money they were going to get.  One family getting a refund of $700 said they were going to “pour their money out in their community.”  My favorite was the family that was getting a $2700 tax cut.  They said, “We have a lot of people going to school. My wife and I are both in graduate school, finishing up, and we still got three other -- four other kids to get through college.”  What planet….? But in fairness, these middle-class people need a pay increase and how bad they need it is demonstrated by how happy they are with just a pittance.

ON THE other hand, a person making $5 million a year will get an average of 3% tax cut, or $320,640, compared to those making $54,700 to $93,200 a year (most of the people I know), who would get only a 0.5 percent income boost.  

TRUMP announced if they hurry and pass the tax bill this week, we can start getting the money in February by way of a reduction in with-holding tax.  We all know that if we reduce with-holding, we run the risk of owing IRS at tax time.  

THIS TAX BILL will increase the deficit by $1.46 trillion in ten years.  However, in order for the Senate to meet the requirements of only having 51 votes instead of 60, the deficit cannot extend longer than ten years. Therefore, your tax cut is temporary, for only ten years.  The massive corporate tax cuts responsible for the huge deficit are permanent.

THE INDIVIDUAL mandate has been removed from Obamacare which kills it, with no replacement in sight.  After this bill is passed and signed, we will slowly learn how hard the elderly, poor, and children will be devastated by this poorly thought out plan to help the rich.

THERE IS one good thing I can say about this tax bill; the Johnson Amendment stays in place.  That’s the law that does not allow churches, synagogues, mosques and other nonprofits to be political and endorse candidates in elections. It was only left in place because removing it did not comply with the rules of the Senate.  Hallelujah!

Dear Santa:

This is an emergency!

It’s been decades since I’ve written you. That does not mean I stopped believing that you have a little village at the North Pole where little elves build toys all year.  And, of course I believe you have reindeer that pull your sled through the skies and you deliver gifts to children all over the world in a matter of hours.  I know that you can place your finger beside your nose and magically go up and down a chimney carrying a big pack of toys.  And, if a house does not have a chimney, only YOU know how to deliver those toys through a locked door with an ADT alarm system.  I believe you have magic sleeping dust to sprinkle on dogs like the ones I have that bark at strangers and flying deer.  Of course, I believe.  Who wouldn’t?

I’m not writing because I want you to bring me something.  I am pleading for you NOT to bring something.  On behalf of all the poor and working middle-class in our country, please DO NOT bring us this tax bill.  I know it’s probably all wrapped up, loaded on the sled, and it may be too late.  If that’s the case, please make a sharp turn over Moscow and dump it on top of the Kremlin.

TO ALL my readers, have a wonderful Christmas and I hope you make a memory.